A Czech-born Canadian composer elicits certain ideas of avant-garde dissonances carried over from Eastern Europe to New World, but Komorous has a musical view that is broader than this category. In Rossi, the 14-minute orchestral score features juxtapositions that are not post-serial or otherwise relating to music's relentlessly challenged syntax during the twentieth century. This is music that features sounds from early fin-de siècle France, boogie woogie, waltz music, and other easily identified sources that blend here with complete success. Both the casual listener and the ardent New Music lover have something to appreciate in this work because all the different styles blend by means of an inertia that is mysterious and compelling. The orchestration is strong and relentlessly interesting. Solo organ and snare drum moments arrest the imagination without ever draining the music's current. A strange delight emerges from this piece because the identifiable genres in operation do not appear in a predictable or otherwise easily exhausted format. Nor are the styles parodies; jazz and classical music sounds appear together precisely because of the challenges that arise in establishing meaningful connections between them. This is not hybrid music, attempting to find some common ground. Rather, a cohesion is generated with segues that make the greater form of the music seamless and respectful of each genre on its own. One might be tempted to regard this piece as a set of accumulated scraps of different kinds of music, but on there is too much staying power in the final product to categorize this piece so easily. It works better than that; there is no trace of happy accident here. Readers are strongly encouraged to give this piece a listen. ~ All Music Guide
